Community order for man who bit and left a scar on officer

Community order for man who bit and left a scar on officer

A man who violently bit a Metropolitan Police Officer - leaving him with this scar - has been handed a community order.

The PC was assaulted during an incident on Murchison Road in Leytonstone.

The man, who pleaded guilty to the assault, was given a community order, ordered to pay the officer £200 in compensation and will have to pay Crown Prosecution costs of £85.

Ken Marsh, Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: “This is another despicable assault on one of our hard-working colleagues.

“We need the courts to send a strong message to those who might do this that their actions will not be tolerated. This does not do that.

“It is also important that our colleagues have the right protective equipment to keep them safe on the beat. We must protect the protectors.”

Spitting at and biting officers is in sharp focus and the sentence comes amid continued calls from the Metropolitan Police Federation for spit guards to be made available to all frontline officers, not just custody teams.

A Federation survey on spitting and biting assaults, completed by 5,500 officers, revealed that 92% were in favour of having spit guards.

A further 562 officers said they had been bitten on duty in the last two years.